I often think about my room in the southeast turret of the Tuna Club, where I spent much of my time from 1986 through 1989. It was located on the second floor of this fine Catalina Island mansion - built in the 1890s -the dorm area generally occupied by members of this men's club.

I chose that room particularly for its view of the entrance of Avalon Harbor and the boardwalk of the village on the shore as well.

I was also taken by the sounds wafting up to my window: the tide rushing in with the break of the swell under the building below, and the clanging of the loose halyards in the rigging of boats on their moorings.

The Tuna Club commissioned me to render a painting for them. The original was to be sold at their in-house auction, and prints made for sale to their membership. Indeed, a limited edition of 250 full sheet size watercolor and ink rendering were completed and sold out in record time.

The experience was incredible. I painted the Tuna Club building with the unique angle of being done from on the water. They gave me an extra Harbor Patrol boat that was off duty that I could moor up to a buoy and paint from each day. I am very appreciative!

After painting all day, I would relax in the club and listen to some of the tales of the old days from the venerable caretaker Bob Walker - generally accompanied by his talkative parrot, Keed. (Keed wasn't one to stay on subject, however.)

One yarn stands out from those chatty evenings. It was the tale of Old Joe, a ghost that lived in my room. To this point I was unaware that this upper room I had selected was well known to be Old Joe's room.

Bob said he didn't believe in ghosts until late one night when he saw Joe's apparition at the top of the stairs. Old Joe was wearing his head sock and a long bed robe. He carried a candleholder with a lit candle as he headed out of his room and down the long dark hallway. Personally, during my sojourn there, I never had the pleasure of his company, at least as far as I know.

Talking about this Tuna Club ghost with other members one night, I learned Old Joe was a benevolent sort of phantom, thoughtfully waking those members whose vessels were in need of attention due to anchor dragging, unsecured dinghies, sails or wives.

The time spent there allowed me to complete a lot of other paintings and drawings, and made a very pleasant home for me. I became close friends with Doug Probst, the Catalina Conservancy president for 25 years. I would often stay with him and his wife Joannie out at the Middle Ranch until his retirement in the early 1990s.

Doug and I would take bag lunches, along with his photographic gear and my paints, and go out on the hills of Catalina Island in his trusty Conservancy Jeep. He was and still is a great photographer and botanist.

During the several years of my intermittent stays there, I was able to do the paintings of Catalina's Avalon Harbor in my "Avalon Triptych" which sold out shortly after its release.

My gallery on Via Oporto in Newport Beach donated twenty sets of the triptych to the Catalina Conservancy. The "Avalon Triptych" were all sold for the benefit of the Conservancy and their great on-going work protecting the flora and fauna of Catalina Island.

Years later, there is a renewed interest and demand for this painting of the panoramic view of Avalon, and a new reduced-size edition will be forthcoming. Continue to watch this website for further announcements.

Just this past year, I began working with the Catalina Conservancy again with a new oil painting for a major fundraiser, the 2005 Conservancy Ball.

In this new painting "Emerald Enchantment", the view is from above Emerald Cove on the island's west end, looking southeast toward Two Harbors and Avalon. It took four days under cloudless summer skies in the cacti strewn hills to capture this wondrously pristine scene, and I still think the sunburn and dehydration were well worth it.

Giclee prints from "Emerald Enchantment" and "Tuna Club" are currently available for purchase on this website. Please contact the artist.

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Most recently updated on
January 19, 2008